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Horiba’s new investment

Mira, the British automotive company that has been providing testing facilities for manufacturers of various vehicles since 1945, has been purchased by Horiba. The Japanese company has acquired it for an undisclosed sum and has great plans for the future of the company, including creating a transportation research hub in the West Midlands by 2022. The hub will be the largest in Europe and create 2,000 automotive jobs.

Mira, formerly the Motor Industry Research Association, had been struggling for several years because of a pension deficit they had built up due to two different benefit schemes. The acquisition by Horiba comes towards the end of a plan that had been in place to resolve this issue. The first order of business was to fix the deficit and secure the long term viability of the company. This was successfully achieved, meaning the business can now look to the future with optimism.

The acquisition will provide Horiba with some fantastic benefits. Mira is a partner in the Autodrive consortium, a group that has been carrying out testing on driverless cars in the UK. This work falls under the £19 million scheme to examine the viability of this new technology on British roads. The parent company will have access to this as a result of the purchase as well as all of Mira’s other projects.

Mira will also benefit from being acquired. One of the main aims of the company was to grow and expand into other markets. Having a parent company that is already established around the world will accelerate these plans and put them on track to achieving their objective of doubling their revenues. They will also have access to many more resources now.

The acquisition shows that the UK is a valuable market for the automotive sector, particularly in terms of testing, research and development. If Horiba’s plans to invest in facilities and set up new ones come to fruition it will create more exciting jobs and automotive recruitment opportunities for people in the UK.